Stealthy and flying at an amazing speed, this Lanner Falcon was almost invisible to the naked eye when in pursuit of prey. Myself and my partner Andre were incredibly lucky to capture a few images of this Falcon as he snatched a Cape Turtle Dove in flight, close to a waterhole in the Kalahari. You might not be fully satisfied with the IQ of this frame - this is a fairly large crop and the focus point not quite where I would have liked it to be... but I just hope you will appreciate the rarity of this sighting.
I am trying to convince Andre to process a few of his images from this sighting and share them in the new forum Story Sequences at the week-end:)
Nikon D4
Nikon 500mm
ISO 800
1/4000s
F6.3
Thank you so much for viewing and for your comments on my previous image, I truly appreciate it.
Kind regards,
Last edited by Gabriela Plesea; 04-16-2015 at 12:46 PM.
Gabriela, that's pretty amazing. For a large crop this looks sharp and well-focused to my eye. The action captured is excellent. Thanks for sharing it.
You might not be fully satisfied with the IQ of this frame
Methinks you are indulging in a bit of modesty. Don't. Because it is an excellent image as it is - not only for the subject itself but also impressive for recognising what had happened and reacting quickly enough to photograph it. And its in focus.
Thank you so much Bill and Mike, such a treat to read your comments tonight
FP was on the L wing of the Lanner here...and unfortunately in various other places within the sequence, LOL...
These guys are so, so fast! We were sitting in the vehicle at another waterhole last year, during lunch time...42"C or so, and watching a pair of Lanners hunting. You only see them when against the sky, otherwise they blend so well among their victims (doves/sand grouses), same size and similar colours...At some point a Lanner flew so close to the vehicle that we actually heard the sound of its wings slicing the air...cannot replicate this in writing, it was as if a bullet went past our ears! What we also discovered, was that Tawny Eagles take advantage of Lanners - they just perch somewhere atop a tree nearby and wait until the Lanners make a kill, then take it away from them - seems unfair but this is Nature... every trip out there brings about new sightings and the knowledge on animal/bird behaviour we accumulated over years is s special...hope to share more with you, so glad you enjoyed this, again thank you for your comments and time to view!
Love the shot Gabriela you have a good habit of being in the right place at the right time..and being ready so well done. The qulaity looks prety good just possibly the cheek on the dove is a little bright? If you are concerned about image quality it may be worthwhile reducing the crop slightly, often a slightly smaller crop can make a big difference.
I cannot count how many times I came back from the Kalahari with my face and arms burnt beyond recognition...I am forever thirsty to capture a special moment when it comes to wildlife, and it gives me quite a thrill to share my images with you on BPN. I know I have to be more careful these days and tell myself I must use the best sunscreen available, I also promise Andre I will wear my big hat, but I find a sighting like this so irresistible that I just don't care when the moment arrives, even though I know I will pay the price eventually...It took us many hours to capture this, lots of actuations and images deleted, all in all I was left with five images (out of one hundred or so...).
The dove is a tad too bright for my taste as well, but I can fix it - thank you for pointing that out - I thought I might get away with it, LOL. As to cropping - I did try but felt the IQ was diminishing so decided to leave it as is:)
Once again I thank you for viewing and feedback, I will certainly look into your suggestions
B 52
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Originally Posted by Gabriela Plesea
Nice details on 'both' birds and a great flight pose. 
